FRENCH NATURALIZATION OF THE SCOTS IN THE FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH
CENTURIES

French naturalization of the Scots appears to have evolved from lands
granted to
individual Scots by Charles VII during the Hundred Years War, and it would seem
that the libertas testandi associated with these grants in the
fifteenth century was an early
form of what were later called lettres de naturalité in the
sixteenth century. French
naturalization was granted not only to individual Scots but to all Scottish
subjects by
certain French monarchs from Charles VII to Louis XIV and had its origins in the
‘Auld Alliance’, as the Scots referred to their relationship with
France, and the
establishment of the garde écossaise by Charles VII in 1445.
The sixteenth century saw
a continuation of Scottish military service to the kings of France as well as a
continuation of grants of lands, pensions, titles and privileges accorded by grateful
French monarchs to Scottish soldiers in the main, but other Scots as well, many of
whom were, and others who became by letters patent of naturalization, loyal subjects
of the king of France.

This paper was first presented at the
Australasian Historians of Medieval and Early Modern
Europe Conference at the University of Adelaide in September 1991. Subsequently,
it has been critically read by Professor Hector MacQueen and Dr David Sellar, Senior
Lecturers in Private
Law, Old College, University of Edinburgh, and I am grateful for their useful
and judicial
comments. I would also like to thank Dr Bernadette Masters, Queen Elizabeth II
Fellow,
Department of French Studies, University of Sydney, for her meticulous editing,
especially of the
French documents. I am equally grateful for financial support from the
Eleanor Sophia Wood
Travelling Fellowship at Sydney University and to the Sir Robert Menzies Centre
at London
University, for research funding during my tenure as Visiting Fellow at the
Institute for Advanced
Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, and Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge,
which enabled me to prepare this paper for publication. I am also grateful for
the help given me over a period of ten years by the late M. Michel Bouille, chef
d'études documentaires at the Archives Nationales, Paris.
He is already sadly missed.

Footnotes

This paper was first presented at the
Australasian Historians of Medieval and Early Modern
Europe Conference at the University of Adelaide in September 1991. Subsequently,
it has been critically read by Professor Hector MacQueen and Dr David Sellar, Senior
Lecturers in Private
Law, Old College, University of Edinburgh, and I am grateful for their useful
and judicial
comments. I would also like to thank Dr Bernadette Masters, Queen Elizabeth II
Fellow,
Department of French Studies, University of Sydney, for her meticulous editing,
especially of the
French documents. I am equally grateful for financial support from the
Eleanor Sophia Wood
Travelling Fellowship at Sydney University and to the Sir Robert Menzies Centre
at London
University, for research funding during my tenure as Visiting Fellow at the
Institute for Advanced
Studies in the Humanities, University of Edinburgh, and Corpus Christi
College, Cambridge,
which enabled me to prepare this paper for publication. I am also grateful for
the help given me over a period of ten years by the late M. Michel Bouille, chef
d'études documentaires at the Archives Nationales, Paris.
He is already sadly missed.